Mar/April 2009

When Scotia Gas Networks was set up as a major new UK-based gas distribution company, it had to create a completely new field service despatch system. Its ClickSoftware system has exceeded expectations

It's not often that a new energy supply company has the opportunity to set up a scheduling and despatch system for its field operations from scratch. However, when Scotia Gas Networks was formed four years ago, that is exactly what happened.

SGN was created in 2005, when the structure of Britain's gas distribution business underwent a radical transformation. Until then, National Grid Transco (now National Grid) owned and operated the UK's eight gas distribution networks.

SGN acquired the Scotland and southern gas networks from National Grid. It is now one of four companies operating the UK's gas pipeline network, and the country's second-largest gas distribution company.

 

During the changeover, National Grid provided ongoing IT support to SGN under various service agreements, but as part of the deal SGN was expected to set up its own IT infrastructure as quickly as possible – a huge undertaking, in which SGN planned to reduce the number of IT systems from 54 to just eight.

When it came to scheduling staff for emergency call-outs, the requirements were particularly stringent. Under its service level agreement, SGN is obliged to achieve 97 per cent of emergency call-outs within one hour, and Ofgen, the body responsible for regulating the industry, can apply sanctions if this target is not met.

SGN realised it needed a new solution to manage its 1,500-strong field teams in Scotland and central southern and south-east England.

The organisation divided its operations into three main streams – emergency and metering; repair; and maintenance. The selection of the software used to schedule the company's staff was driven primarily by its capability to deliver to the emergency and metering stream.

SGN embarked upon a rigorous selection process, using a matrix that scored suppliers against key, carefully considered operational criteria. Two potential suppliers were short-listed, and ClickSoftware was the company eventually selected.

One of its strengths was the fact that it was able to point SGN to some very similar companies as reference sites. Among these, for instance, was Canadian gas company Gaz Metropolitain, which used ClickSchedule to meet a 35-minute SLA to an emergency call out. This was well within the one hour required by Ofgem in the UK.

ClickSchedule from ClickSoftware was chosen for use across all three business streams. Nick Watson, SGN's despatch support manager, reports: 'ClickSchedule scored way above its competitors for dealing with emergency situations. It was also a system that we could trust and grow with the business to improve customer service, increase sales and reduce costs.

'An added bonus was its capability to exploit and integrate with some of the latest technologies such as real-time GPS. This demonstrated to us that it was a system for the future.'

Implementation began across the three business streams at the company's two despatching centres in Portsmouth and Havant. One centre dealt with field staff in Scotland and the other with engineers across southern England.

'Our internal team and the three people provided by ClickSoftware worked very well together,' Nick Watson says. 'To get so much achieved given the tight time scales was impressive. We switched over to ClickSchedule in March 2007 for Scotland and April 2007 for southern England.'

One of the differentiators provided by ClickSchedule for SGN's emergency and metering was its ability to optimise schedules and despatch field staff automatically.

Traditional despatch systems just choose the next available engineer for call-outs, but SGN realised this was inefficient because there are many more variables to consider. ClickSchedule for instance takes a holistic view, automatically optimising the assignment of field staff by processing a range of complex factors such as engineer location, part availability and skill levels.

As a result, SGN is positioned to deal with emergency situations with greater speed, consistency and efficiency. ClickSchedule has also helped SGN meet its SLA of reaching over 97 per cent of emergency calls within an hour.

'In our first year using the software we achieved 97.2 per cent compliance for southern England and 98.07 per cent in Scotland, and we are certain the figures are only going to get better,' Watson says.

He adds: 'There have also been some unexpected benefits. We have recently won a contract with National Grid to manage the replacement of 100,000 household meters a year in our regions. This business is worth upwards of £15 million annually, and winning the contract is due in part to our ability to demonstrate a robust and efficient despatch system.

'We also expect to be able to replace more meters, and therefore make more money because of ClickSchedule's despatch efficiency.'

A further benefit of the new system is that it provides despatchers with a real-time view of field resources and incidents across the 74,000 km of pipeline the company manages.

In Nick Watson's words: 'In all my time working in this area, ClickSchedule is by far the most effective solution that I have seen.'